98 New Species of Weevils Discovered in Indonesia
Posted on December 27, 2014
Night-eight new species of beetles have discovered in Indonesia. The new beetle species all belong to the flightless weevil genus Trigonopterus. Trigonopterus is in subfamily Cryptorhynchinae of Curculionidae. Specimens of the new species are all pictured in the above photograph, along with T. amphoralis, a known species that had been lost since 1922.
A portion of each of the new weevil species' DNA was sequenced. One of the new weevil species, Trigonopterus attenboroughi, is named in honor of Sir David Attenborough for his great nature documentaries. The weevils in the study were found in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Palawan and the Lesser Sunda Islands. The researchers say some of the new species were found in very small areas. They expect to find many more new species on the islands. The rainforest is disappearing in this region as parts of it are converted for agriculture so the habitat of many of these species is threatened.
German researchers Alexander Riedel (Natural History Museum Karlsruhe) and Michael Balke (Zoological State Collection Munich), said in a statement, "It was surprising that in Bali even areas regularly visited by package tours can be the home of unknown species."
A research paper on the new beetles was published here in the journal ZooKeys.